Contents

The House met at 10:03 a.m.

[The Speaker in the chair.]

Routine Business

Prayers and reflections: Rosalyn Bird.

Statements

Toronto Blue Jays

Korky Neufeld: Hon. Speaker, let me introduce to you Canada’s team, the Blue Jays. During the season standings, the Blue Jays clinched their first divisional title since 2015, which gave them five days off before they took on the New York Yankees.

[10:05 a.m.]

Last night the Toronto Blue Jays advanced to the American League Championship Series after defeating the Yankees in three out of four games, the first time since 2016. The Blue Jays will face either the Mariners or the Tigers for the division championship on their way to the World Series.

Let’s keep cheering them on.

Introductions by Members

Hon. Jodie Wickens: Today is a very special day in the Wickens household. My amazing, thoughtful, kind, compassionate son Ashton Wickens turned 16 years old. Yes, they booked their driver’s test.

I’m a proud mom. I get emails and phone calls all of the time from adults in Ashton’s life to tell me how wonderful a human being he is. That is the proudest thing as a parent, when you know that you’ve raised someone who cares about their community. Ashton will be a leader.

I’m very proud of you. Happy birthday. I can’t wait to run home and smush your face with kisses.

Claire Rattée: As a very proud supporter of the energy industry in British Columbia, I would like to recognize that we are fortunate to have in the precinct today members of Canada Powered by Women.

The CEO, Tracey Bodnarchuk, and board member Heather Taylor are here to represent the Canadian women who believe sound energy policies are vital for the continuing prosperity of our country.

Will the House please join me in welcoming them to the Legislative Assembly.

Hon. Niki Sharma: We’re joined in the gallery today by Mason Cox, director of counselling at the Credit Counselling Society.

For 29 years, the Credit Counselling Society has helped Canadians with their financial well-being by providing free credit counselling, low-cost debt management solutions and financial education.

Their first office was in New Westminster, B.C., and they now serve Canadians in five provinces. To date, their clients have repaid over $700 million in debt.

Peter Milobar: I, too, have two birthdays, actually, to announce today and bring greetings to.

The first is the love of my life, my wife. As I’ve often said, she’s the most patient woman out there. I think the new members in this parliament are starting to understand why I say that all the time as well. She has put up with me a lot of years, but it’s her birthday today.

Would the House please wish her a happy birthday.

The second will actually be of interest to the Speaker. It’s my granddaughter Azalea’s birthday on the same day. But Azalea sits at home. She’s at our house a lot, and at 10 a.m., she will watch eagerly and announce that the Speaker is arriving in the chamber, a play-by-play when it’s time for him to take his hat off and when he sits down. In fact, when the Speaker is not here, she has great concern as to what is going on and why the Speaker is not here.

She actually knows many members by first or last names as well. She’s an ardent observer, even though she’s only turning three today.

Knowing how this town can sometimes take things and spin them into innuendo, just to be clear, my granddaughter Azalea is not the Minister of Infrastructure’s Azalea. My granddaughter is not her daughter. So there you go.

Jordan Kealy: I would like to say happy birthday to my wife. My amazing wife, Karen, is at home on the farm. It’s a place she absolutely loves.

It’s one of the things about being a farmer. You really don’t get to go on vacation. If you leave the farm, it’s normally one or the other. It would be my wife leaving the farm or myself. Without her love and support and strength, I wouldn’t be able to do this job.

I just wanted to say she’s smart, intelligent and strong in mind, body and soul. She doesn’t want to be in my political public life, but when I come home, she is the rock that grounds me. It’s amazing the difference that that makes in your life when you can separate politics from your personal life.

I just wanted to say happy birthday to my wife at home.

I love you, and I look forward to seeing you on the red-eye when I come home at 11:30 tonight.

[10:10 a.m.]

Gavin Dew: I’m pleased to welcome Kyle Irwin to the chamber. Kyle inherited the entrepreneurial bug from his parents and started a company in 2001 when he was 19. Irwin’s Safety is now headquartered in Kelowna, where Kyle lives with his family.

Irwin’s Safety peaked at 700 workers last year, with 20 percent Indigenous employment. Their work on major industrial projects across Canada has included proud partnerships with more than 40 First Nations, contributing millions of dollars.

Please join me in welcoming a proud British Columbian job creator to the chamber.

Sunita Dhir: It’s my honour to welcome the members of CLEAR to the House today. They are Canadians for Leading Edge Alzheimer Research. They support scientists who are making groundbreaking discoveries in helping better understand, treat and cure dementia.

Let’s welcome Claire Lynch, Bob Hastings, Lynn Beattie, Amanda Orr and Jamie Stein, sitting on this side of the House.

This morning I was with them and saw the printer they are using to print brain cells for Alzheimer’s research. They are at the forefront of innovations.

Let’s welcome them to the House.

Jeremy Valeriote: I can’t resist, since none of my family’s birthdays are during sitting months.

Today is my 14th wedding anniversary, so I just wanted to wish my wife a happy anniversary.

A Thanksgiving wedding is very fitting. We’ve got a lot to be thankful for.

Introduction and
First Reading of Bills

Bill 28 — Business Practices and
Consumer Protection
Amendment Act (No. 2), 2025

Hon. Niki Sharma presented a message from Her Honour the Lieutenant Governor: a bill intituled Business Practices and Consumer Protection Amendment Act (No. 2), 2025.

Hon. Niki Sharma: I move that the bill be introduced and read a first time now.

I am pleased to introduce the Business Practices and Consumer Protection Amendment Act. This bill will provide people in British Columbia with tools, specifically security alerts and credit freezes, to protect themselves against credit fraud.

The bill also improves access to personal information held by the credit reporting agencies in order to help people in B.C. manage their financial well-being.

Finally, the bill will increase consumer awareness and access to information needed to make informed choices when considering whether to access credit monitoring and credit repair services.

The Speaker: Members, the question is first reading of the bill.

Motion approved.

Hon. Niki Sharma: I move that the bill be placed on the orders of the day for second reading at the next sitting of the House after today.

Motion approved.

Bill 25 — Housing and Municipal
Affairs Statutes Amendment Act, 2025

Hon. Christine Boyle presented a message from Her Honour the Lieutenant Governor: a bill intituled Housing and Municipal Affairs Statutes Amendment Act, 2025.

Hon. Christine Boyle: I move that the bill be introduced and read a first time now.

I am pleased to introduce the Housing and Municipal Affairs Statutes Amendment Act. This bill includes amendments to the Local Government Act, the Vancouver Charter and the Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act.

The bill is intended to remove barriers to the development of small-scale, multi-unit housing by clarifying and expanding where this type of housing must be allowed. While we expect only a small number of communities to be impacted, the changes will ensure that all local governments are meeting the small-scale, multi-unit housing requirements and allow more diverse forms of housing, like townhomes and houseplexes consistently across B.C.

[10:15 a.m.]

Local governments will still have the ability to apply for extensions, and, if needed, we can continue to use ministerial orders to ensure compliance. We’re also expanding the regulation-making authority to include the housing unit form and density and for off-street parking requirements. This will allow us to establish minimum standards for these categories if needed in the future.

This bill’s amendments to the Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act support administration, promote operational efficiency and enhance the overall effectiveness of this important regulatory framework. Since the act was passed in October 2023, our government has made significant progress in helping more British Columbians find a place to live by returning thousands of short-term rentals to the long-term housing market.

As with any new regulatory regime, implementation has revealed opportunities to improve both efficiency and effectiveness of the act. This bill responds to what we have learned so far and introduces three key sets of amendments.

First, we’re proposing amendments to clarify key provisions of the act. These changes will support continued fair and effective compliance and enforcement.

Second, we’re ensuring that all relevant sections of the act are available to modern treaty Nations that choose to enter into a coordination agreement. These agreements allow modern treaty Nations to access tools in the act to help them enforce their own short-term rental laws.

Third, we’re introducing new enforcement tools to further enhance compliance with the act.

Together these amendments will improve clarity and responsiveness, helping short-term-rental hosts better understand and comply with the rules.

The Speaker: The question is first reading of the bill.

Motion approved.

Hon. Christine Boyle: I move that the bill be placed on the orders of the day for second reading at the next sitting of the House after today.

Motion approved.

Bill 26 — Vancouver Charter
Amendment Act, 2025

Hon. Christine Boyle presented a message from Her Honour the Lieutenant Governor: a bill intituled Vancouver Charter Amendment Act, 2025.

Hon. Christine Boyle: I move that the bill be introduced and read a first time now.

I am pleased to introduce the Vancouver Charter Amendment Act. This bill responds to a request from the city of Vancouver to dissolve the Vancouver park board and to transfer park governance to Vancouver council.

The proposed legislation provides Vancouver council with statutory authority to dissolve the Vancouver park board by bylaw, contingent upon obtaining electoral support through an assent vote.

The legislation also transfers authorities, responsibilities, liabilities and assets of the Vancouver park board to Vancouver council in the event that the Vancouver park board is dissolved by Vancouver council. This governance transfer would give Vancouver council jurisdiction over all areas designated as parks in the city of Vancouver.

The Speaker: The question is first reading of the bill.

Motion approved.

Hon. Christine Boyle: I move that the bill be placed on the orders of the day for second reading at the next sitting of the House after today.

Motion approved.

Bill 27 — Miscellaneous Statutes
Amendment Act (No. 2), 2025

Hon. Mike Farnworth presented a message from Her Honour the Lieutenant Governor: a bill intituled Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act (No. 2), 2025.

Hon. Mike Farnworth: I move that the bill be introduced and read a first time now.

I am pleased to introduce the Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act (No. 2). This bill amends the following statutes: the Community Charter and Vancouver Charter.

Changes to the Community Charter and Vancouver Charter will make it easier for local governments and First Nations to work together by better protecting confidential and culturally sensitive information and by giving them the space they need to collaborate and build trust during negotiations. Currently local governments can only close meetings for a limited set of reasons that does not include First Nation relations.

[10:20 a.m.]

The changes being made would allow or require local governments to hold closed meetings when discussing culturally sensitive and confidential information shared by First Nations or during negotiations with First Nations or other local governments. There will be no changes to the requirements for local governments to make final decisions and pass bylaws in open meetings.

The proposed amendments respond to direct requests from the Union of B.C. Municipalities, local governments and First Nations and will improve government-to-government relationships and advance reconciliation. The new rules for closed meetings will apply in specific situations to balance the need for transparency with the need to help governments work together more respectfully and effectively.

The province will provide additional guidance to help local governments make informed choices under new rules.

The School Act is legislation that governs B.C.’s education system. Proposed amendments will formalize existing practices by requiring ministerial approval prior to the use of expropriation powers by any of B.C.’s 60 school districts. Expropriation is considered a tool of last resort that has only been used a handful of times in recent years, when required for educational purposes.

The proposed amendments will also allow the Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique, CFS, to acquire private property through expropriation, which brings into alignment the same power that the other 59 school districts in the province already have.

I would be pleased to elaborate on the nature of these amendments during second reading of the bill.

The Speaker: Members, the question is the first reading of the bill.

Motion approved.

Hon. Mike Farnworth: I move the bill be placed on the orders of the day for a second reading at the next sitting of the House after today.

Motion approved.

Members’ Statements

B.C. Association of
Health-Care Auxiliaries

Sheldon Clare: They used to be known as candy stripers, but not anymore.

I was privileged to speak at the B.C. Association of Health-Care Auxiliaries north area fall conference in Quesnel, held September 12 to 14. It was an event resplendent with photo albums chronicling history and especially crafts and donated items intended to raise funds in support of the local hospital.

These are the greeters at the entrance to hospitals. They are the ones running thrift shops, hosting bake sales, tag days, dances and other creative fundraising activities that take significant pressure off of local health care delivery.

The BCAHA consists of volunteer-based membership organizations which support the needs of hospitals, health care centres and health services, thereby promoting the health and welfare of communities within British Columbia.

The British Columbia Association of Health-Care Auxiliaries, BCAHA, was established in 1945 to promote education, leadership, effective communication and high standards of performance as key factors in member auxiliaries’ success.

Currently BCAHA’s 62 member auxiliaries in British Columbia represent more than 5,000 adult volunteers and some youth volunteers.

In 2023, member auxiliaries devoted more than 931,000 volunteer hours and donated over $8.845 million to purchase much-needed health care equipment at the local levels and to enhance the care and comfort of patients and their families. These volunteers give their time and labour in support of improving health care in British Columbia.

This year marks the 115th anniversary of the Quesnel Hospital Auxiliary. The Quesnel Hospital Auxiliary is much older than the dated G.R. Baker Memorial Hospital which it serves. QHA was formed in 1910, which makes it one of the oldest health care auxiliaries in the province and considerably older than its parent association.

Congratulations to Quesnel Hospital Auxiliary president Louis Beaulieu, auxiliary coordinator JoAnn Houston and all the members in both Quesnel and the province.

The people of British Columbia owe you a tremendous debt of gratitude for your compassionate care and excellent support.

Breast Cancer
Awareness and Screening

Jennifer Blatherwick: It is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and I would like to thank the MLA for North Vancouver–Seymour for speaking to this earlier in the week. I will also be speaking to it. We planned it this way so both speeches would make a nice pair.

I did just make that pun. I hope that it got your attention, I hope you talk about it, and I hope you share it. I hope more than anything that it reminds you to book an appointment for a mammogram or help someone you love book one.

One in eight women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime. That means out of the 47 women in the chamber, statistically, there will be seven women who get that news. But every single one of us will know and care about a person who is affected.

[10:25 a.m.]

The B.C. Cancer screening mammography program provides no-cost, regular mammograms available to women in B.C. 40 years and older. It’s available throughout the province at hospitals, community imaging clinics and through the mobile mammography vans.

B.C. Cancer continues to work with regional health authorities to improve access, scheduling additional or extended visits from the mobile unit and working with community imaging clinics to widen their reach.

Mammograms help detect cancer early, finding lumps two or three years before you or your primary care provider can feel them. There is a 25 percent reduction in deaths from breast cancer among those who regularly screen. Early detection means more treatment options and better outcomes.

Thirty years ago, B.C. was the first in the country to develop an organized provincial breast cancer screening program. Back in 2018, we were the first in Canada to share breast density information directly with all women and their health care providers, to better inform them and support them in monitoring their health.

Breast cancer awareness is a great time to go book a mammogram. Go with your friends, book an appointment, make some great mammaries together, and save the life of someone you love.

PANS/PANDAS Awareness Day

Kristina Loewen: Today I rise to recognize PANS/PANDAS Awareness Day and to shine a light on a devastating but often overlooked condition, one that can strike without warning and turn a healthy, thriving child into someone unrecognizable to their own family.

Pediatric acute neuropsychiatric syndrome and PANDAS, its subset linked to strep infections, are serious medical conditions. They can cause a sudden and often dramatic set of neuropsychiatric symptoms. These children may suddenly develop obsessive-compulsive behaviours, tics, anxiety, separation fears, personality changes, depression or even psychosis, often following something as common as a sore throat or a cold.

Imagine your child catches the flu, and within days they can’t sleep. They’re pacing, they’re panicked, and you’re no longer sure how to reach them. It’s terrifying. I know, because it happened to my daughter. But let me tell you about her cousin. He also had a psychosis the same weekend she did, but he was already diagnosed with PANDAS. So while she spent a month in the hospital and two in distress, he was able to return home to his family after only five days on antibiotics.

Tragically, this happens more often than we think. Although awareness is growing, recognition amongst front-line health care providers remains alarmingly low. That matters, because this condition is treatable. We need greater awareness across our medical, naturopathic and psychiatric communities. We need diagnostic pathways, and we need to give parents, teachers, care providers the tools to recognize when a child’s mental health may be the result of an underlying, treatable, immune dysfunction.

Ontario has begun this conversation. The U.S. has clinics and research centres. It’s time for B.C. to catch up.

Thankfully, this House chose October 9 as PANS/PANDAS Awareness Day in 2023, so thank you.

Now we need to move forward. Let’s mark today as the beginning of change and a step towards ensuring that no family has to face this journey in the dark.

Islamic Heritage Month

Amna Shah: I rise today to recognize October as Islamic Heritage Month in British Columbia.

For over a century, Muslims and Islam have been an integral part of Canada’s story, rich in wisdom, with art, with philosophy and with peace. Today more than 125,000 Muslims call B.C. home, representing a rich tapestry of cultures from around the world. Their contributions are felt in every corner of our society, from education and health care to business, science and the arts.

This month is a time to reflect and celebrate the Muslim community’s achievements and heritage. While we celebrate, we must also commit to stand together against rising Islamophobia. I stand to remind us of justice and of compassion, to speak of the dignity, the struggles and the strength of the Muslim community, a community that has time and time again faced prejudice, violence and suspicion yet continues to stand with grace, faith and resilience.

Let me be clear. Justice is not justice if it is selective, and compassion is not compassion if it has conditions.

[10:30 a.m.]

Our government remains committed to supporting anti-racism initiatives and building a province where everyone feels safe, respected and valued. As the Parliamentary Secretary for Anti-Racism Initiatives, I will continue to stand in this House to fight against hatred every single day.

Muslim values are Canadian values. The principles of compassion, justice and community are deeply woven into the fabric of our province. I encourage everyone to take part in local events and celebrate the legacy of Muslim communities here and around the world.

To our Muslim community: your presence is a blessing. We thank you for all your contributions to British Columbia.

Value of Immigrants

Rob Botterell: I rise to offer an ode to immigrants. British Columbia is a land of immigrants. Apart from the honourable Indigenous members of this House, every one of us is an immigrant or child of immigrants. Some of our families have been here longer than others, but for almost all of us, our standing in this House is the result of someone boarding a plane, a train or a boat and setting out for new horizons.

As I walk through this building, I see immigrants everywhere — in my caucus team, in precinct services, tending the building and the grounds, doing the construction work right outside my office window. Whether we want to acknowledge it or not, immigrants are propping up our health care system and our construction sector. They’re growing our food, educating our children and looking after our parents. They are not the reason for the housing or affordability crises. In fact, in many instances, they’re the solution.

Immigrants, their children and their grandchildren are vital to the culture of British Columbia. As a province, we celebrate festivals, eat amazing food, admire street art and shows, understand and appreciate different cultures and traditions. In fact, this is all the result of the immigrants in our midst.

My message today to any new or temporary British Columbians is that you are not a burden. You are welcome here.

I wish you and your families all the very best in your new home.

Defence on the Dock Event
and Service of Canadian
Navy and Armed Forces

Darlene Rotchford: This past Sunday my colleagues and I were honoured to be hosted by Rear-Admiral Patchell and base commander, navy, Kevin Whiteside at CFB Esquimalt’s Defence on the Dock. This is an event held each year at Ogden Point to showcase the work of our Royal Canadian Navy and our Canadian Armed Forces.

It’s always a privilege to highlight the incredible work and contributions of our CAF members. The day began with a homecoming ceremony. If you’ve never experienced that, and if you ever get to, please take the opportunity.

His Majesty’s Canadian submarine Corner Brook, which has spent the last two months carrying out vital operations with the Canadian Navy vessels and allied forces, came home. It was wonderful to see families reunited with their sailors, with hugs, smiles, laughter and a few tears. It’s a reminder of the many sacrifices of the service members and our loved ones that make the support for our country.

I was also given the opportunity to tour HMCS Vancouver, guided by our commanding officer Mal Aubrey, a personal friend of mine, who shared insight into the life and work they do at sea, followed by a tour where we were part of a discussion with Rear-Admiral Patchell and Captain Whiteside and the members of the crew about some of the issues that our Canadian Armed Forces are having.

Finally, we toured HMCS Corner Brook and were given a brief but, I’ll be honest, very powerful glimpse into what life beneath the ocean is like for a submariner.

These experiences serve as a reminder of the dedication and daily sacrifices made by the men and women of our Canadian Armed Forces. Their services allow us to come into this House every day, to speak freely about the issues that matter to the people of British Columbia, rights and freedoms safeguarded by those who have served for us — past, present and future — and something we should not take lightly during these challenging times.

As we approach Thanksgiving, I want to give heartfelt gratitude to all of those who are deployed, to their families and their communities that support them. We sometimes take it for granted that we get to be here with our families and that the people who serve our country give up holidays that you can’t even imagine, give up memories that they’ll never get back, all to ensure that people like us get to come into this House.

[10:35 a.m.]

Please take the time to consider what you’re saying, and think of them before you speak it.

Oral Questions

Funding for Downtown
Eastside Services

Claire Rattée: On Tuesday, the Housing Minister called Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside “a vibrant community.” I was there last Friday, and what the minister calls vibrant, I call human suffering.

While she was a Vancouver city councillor, she said: “The province should fund upstream solutions rather than forcing local governments to pay for unlimited policing to attempt to plug holes.” Now that she’s in government, though, city council there is being forced to cover even more provincial responsibilities — $8 million a year to strengthen their crisis response services in that vibrant community, despite it being provincial responsibility.

My question to the minister is: is she okay with the city of Vancouver being forced to pick up her government’s tab?

Hon. Christine Boyle: Thank you for the question.

As noted, I am happy to speak about the Downtown Eastside as a community that has faced many complex challenges and, also, that is full of resilient individuals working together to create a better life. I know this because I worked front line as an outreach worker at First United Church, a low-barrier shelter in the Downtown Eastside. I continued to work alongside community members when I was in local government on Vancouver city council.

It continues to be a priority for this government. We’re taking action, in partnership with the local council, in a number of ways — building new housing and strengthening access to treatment services, working to better support people to access job training and more.

Since 2023, we have opened 800 new and renovated spaces for Downtown Eastside residents, with more than 900 more on the way. We’ve partnered with the city of Vancouver to address encampments along East Hastings and in Crab Park, to provide supports and shelter and housing. We’ve opened the new Road to Recovery treatment service and expanded Hope to Health to help 50 percent more people with complex health, mental health and addiction challenges, as well as supporting Lookout’s ethical employment program, and so much more.

We know these systemic challenges remain, and that’s why we are working so hard — in partnership with the city council, in partnership with community organizations, in partnership with residents — to see results. We’ll continue that work. If the opposition wants to get involved, great. If they want to continue to resist and oppose, we will continue to do that work anyway because we know that it matters.

The Speaker: Member for Skeena, supplemental.

Claire Rattée: I wasn’t asking for the minister’s résumé, though. That’s not what I asked for. I was asking whether or not this minister is okay now….

Has her mind changed about whether or not these provincial responsibilities should be downloaded onto the municipalities?

They are funding the work that your government is supposed to do. The city’s investment has led to a 38 percent decrease in emergency room visits and 46 percent fewer police interactions just one month after intervention. Clearly, the municipality has found solutions that actually work.

To the minister, very simple: why does this government prioritize paying for consultants instead of funding real solutions?

Hon. Christine Boyle: The province has contributed a significant amount to the very solutions that the member opposite speaks to.

Highway Patrol Program
and Role of Government

Tony Luck: This government loves downloading its responsibilities onto local governments, and now they’re trying to download highway patrol.

They’re quietly moving to off-load Highway 1 patrol duties onto already overstretched police detachments in Abbotsford, Chilliwack and Hope.

To the Minister of Municipal Affairs, will she guarantee that highway patrol will remain under provincial jurisdiction, yes or no?

Hon. Nina Krieger: My thanks to the member for the question.

Highway patrol is a key area of law enforcement for the province. I heard in my meetings with municipal leaders at UBCM some concerns around highway patrol.

[10:40 a.m.]

We are currently conducting a review of that program and ensuring that it is in line with the needs of communities today.

We will continue to do everything we can, working with municipalities to ensure that highways are safe and that we all have the communities that we need, safe and robust and working together to do this work.

The Speaker: The member has a supplemental.

Tony Luck: Local mayors are concerned about this issue and have written to this government and are still waiting for solutions to the problem because they’re concerned about the downloading. It’s no wonder municipalities have lost trust in this government.

Will the minister stop hiding behind process and finally confirm if highway patrol is staying under provincial jurisdiction, yes or no?

Hon. Nina Krieger: Thank you very much for the follow-up question.

Highway patrol, as I’ve noted, is a key priority for the province. It was part of the historic investment that the province has made of over $230 million to provide more officers to meet the needs of communities.

This government will continue to invest in law enforcement, including highway patrol, ensuring that communities have what they need to be safe and to keep their drivers safe.

Public Service Labour Dispute

Jeremy Valeriote: This government rewrote its spring legislative agenda when President Trump took office. They said we needed to consolidate power in the cabinet and the Premier’s office, short-circuit environmental assessments, and fast-track mining and energy projects, all to respond to threats from south of the border.

Trump is still in office, but six weeks into the BCGEU strike, fast-tracked projects have hit the slow lane. From the smallest gravel pit to the Red Chris and Mount Polley mine expansions, the workers who issue permits and forest compliance and oversee health and safety are on strike. The threats to our environment and public health and safety are real.

My question is to the Minister of Finance. If these minerals are as critical to our economy as this government claims, shouldn’t they quit stalling, get back to the negotiating table and end this strike?

Hon. Brenda Bailey: Thank you to the member for the question.

Our government is very keen to get back to the table, and we have an offer on the table that keeps these workers up to date with inflation, that helps address funding for the lowest-paid workers and protects their benefits.

This is a valuable offer that we have on the table, and we’d like to get back to negotiating.

The Speaker: Member, supplemental.

Jeremy Valeriote: I believe the consistent message of the offer on the table is that this government is strapped for cash. Why, then, are we letting liquor sales dry up while the strike drags on?

The government earns more in revenue from lotteries and liquor sales than it earns in royalties from gas and forestry. Those are funds that could be spent paying the workers who provide services to British Columbians. After all, despite all the pomp and circumstance, it is our government’s core purpose.

My constituents are hitting roadblocks as they try to access basic government services — student loans, supports for children with neurodiversity, timely court hearings, safe pedestrian crossings and other front-line services. Who is next — teachers, nurses, paramedics?

We know there is one advantage to public sector strikes — my question is to the Minister of Finance — the advantage being to the government’s bottom line. Is this government counting on payroll savings from striking workers to bring down their record deficit?

Hon. Brenda Bailey: Absolutely not. What this government wants is to do two things — to make sure that we’re respecting and properly paying our workers and to make sure that we’re protecting the bottom line.

We believe we can do both of those things, and we are looking forward to getting back to the table.

Government Position on
Antifa Activities

Tara Armstrong: Last night the United States announced it would classify antifa as a foreign terrorist organization. Antifa members are inciting and perpetrating violence in the United States, Canada and around the world.

Charlie Kirk’s assassin was antifa, and antifa members celebrated his murder. Popular antifa mouthpieces like Hasan Piker are openly calling for conservatives to be murdered, including a sitting U.S. senator.

[10:45 a.m.]

In Montreal, antifa members brutally assaulted and broke the arm of Billboard Chris, who was OneBC’s esteemed guest here yesterday in the Legislature.

In Vancouver last Saturday, antifa members marched in a demonstration with Samidoun, a listed terrorist organization. They wore masks, dressed in black and flew the antifa flag to intimidate the public.

My question to the Attorney General is simple. Will she right now, right here in this House, condemn antifa?

Hon. Niki Sharma: I’ll just start by saying that we’re a government that is focused on bringing people together and not dividing them and that is focused on addressing the real issues that British Columbians are facing today.

I want to talk about our steps that we’ve taken on terrorist organizations. It’s because of the Premier’s leadership that the Bishnoi gang was classified as a terrorist organization in this country. It’s an example of a real issue that we’re addressing that British Columbians are experiencing right now, and we’ll keep doing that.

The Speaker: Member, supplemental.

Tara Armstrong: Well, with all due respect, my question was not about that.

My question was about antifa, a decentralized leftist organization, like neo-Nazis on the right, which should be very easy to condemn. I personally condemn both antifa and neo-Nazis.

Why won’t the Attorney General say the words? It’s easy. “I condemn antifa.”

Hon. Niki Sharma: We condemn all forms of political violence. In fact, there were recent incidents of members of this House where they experienced what, we think, were really, really unnecessary and unfortunate incidents of violence against their offices and threatening their people.

These are the real issues that we’re focusing on, that British Columbians are facing right now. As I mentioned, the Bishnoi gang, another real issue that we’re focused on today….

This type of Trump-style politics that’s coming to this House, that isn’t addressing the real issues that British Columbians are facing is really unnecessary and unwelcome.

Saplings Mental Health Services

Jordan Kealy: We’ve seen a health care and drug crisis sweep across this province, but it has hit rural communities the hardest, especially in Peace River North.

I need to raise a critical concern about the Saplings program, which has been operating in partnership with Northern Health since 2021. It provides both in-patient and out-patient care for children and youth who present at the ER in mental health crisis.

Over the past four years, two in-patient clinicians have served over 100 youth annually. Saplings has provided timely psychiatric care, individual counselling, group programs and parent support, filling a vital gap that otherwise left young people with nowhere to turn.

Yet we have recently learned, effective March 31, 2026, the contract for Saplings’ in-patient and out-patient care will be terminated. Northern Health plans to replace it with a single mental health nurse in the ER. This leaves children and youth who need ongoing mental health support with no services, essentially returning to the very crisis that led to Saplings’ creation in the first place.

The people of my region do not want a nurse to be taken from the already short-staffed, desperately needed position. They want the contract for Saplings to be renewed, because it works for our community.

My question for the minister is: will she renew this contract of this proven, effective program and help ensure the vulnerable and high-risk youth do not get left behind?

Hon. Josie Osborne: Thank you so much to the member for the question. I appreciated being able to visit him in his riding this summer and being able to talk about some of the pressing health care issues in his region.

He brings up a really, really important subject, which is the supports for children and youth and the mental health crises that people are experiencing and what we can do to continue to address them, to continue to support these youth and their families and build out a system of care that enables early intervention and prevention of issues before they become more serious, as well as being able to address those issues such as when families present at emergency rooms.

[10:50 a.m.]

I know that Northern Health takes this issue very seriously, as do I, and is always looking for the best way to serve these families, using the resources and the good people that they have who are working hard on this.

I’ve committed to work with the member and learn more about the particular situation that he raises. Again I assert how our community is so focused on bringing these resources out to children, youth and their families through the establishment of Foundry centres and integrated child and youth teams throughout this province, ensuring that kids and their families have access to the resources they need.

The Speaker: Member, supplemental.

Drug Decriminalization Program and
Substance Use Policies

Jordan Kealy: I look forward to being able to work with you to make sure that this contract goes forward, but it’s part of a bigger program.

I think that last week the Premier admitted that he was wrong in allowing illicit drugs into our province. This has created unsafe and dangerous working environments for our front-line health care workers. We have heard repeatedly, in this House, about these unsafe conditions, yet nothing has been done. We need these illicit drugs banned from our hospital grounds and everywhere else.

My question for the Premier, who isn’t here right now….

The Speaker: Member, we don’t identify members who are here or not. Just ask your question.

Jordan Kealy: My apologies.

My question is: are you going to right the wrongs and ask for the removal of the failed federal controlled substance use exemption that has wreaked havoc across our province and finally start fixing the major issues?

Hon. Josie Osborne: Thank you again to the member for the question and for his deep concern about people who are experiencing substance use issues, a concern that we all share.

We see that the toxic drug crisis continues to have a devastating impact on people and on their families. We remember that each and every person who suffers as a result of this crisis is somebody’s loved family member. That’s why it is imperative that we act with urgency on this and that we use different approaches and different tools that we have at our hands.

We saw during the pandemic just how terrible things got. We took action as a government in pursuing decriminalization, pursuing opportunities around prescribed alternatives and providing life-saving measures for people while we continue to connect them to care. That is what we need to continue to see — connecting people to the supports and the care that they need, the treatment and the recovery services that are absolutely essential in helping people along their journey.

That’s why we remain focused on building out the Road to Recovery system that has been established in Vancouver, bringing it out to every single health authority and keeping in mind that those people who live in the most distant, remote parts of our province, like the communities that this member represents, need to have access to those services, too.

I can assure the member and this entire House that we remain committed to this work, we’re going to continue to build up this system of care, and we are going to continue to use every tool that we have to tackle this urgent crisis.

Crime in Communities and
Action on Community Safety

Kiel Giddens: Opposition MLAs hosted a business and retail crime forum in Prince George, and the stories we heard were harrowing. That exact same night CrossRoads Brewing went up in flames, and 50 people were out of work. The individual arrested by the RCMP for alleged arson has a rap sheet a mile long.

Daryl Leski, owner of CrossRoads, said: “I will not rebuild in this climate at all. I cannot put my people at risk, my money at risk.”

The entire community is at a breaking point. A week from now, on October 16, there’s a safer streets rally planned at the CN Centre arena with hundreds, if not thousands who will be in attendance.

Will the Premier commit to showing up to that rally to answer for his government’s crime-enabling policies, yes or no?

Hon. Nina Krieger: My thank-you to the member opposite for the question and the advocacy for the community.

The CrossRoads Brewing Co., I know, is a landmark of Prince George. It’s a devastating event for the owner, for the workers and for the entire community.

[10:55 a.m.]

We share those concerns. No business should ever question whether it’s safe to rebuild in their communities, That is why our government is making investments in enhanced supports for police so that they can respond to both repeat violent offenders and property crime in their communities.

We will continue to make those investments, continue to support police in ensuring they have the tools that they need to keep their communities safe.

We’ll continue to stand with the residents of Prince George and work together so that businesses and communities are safe.

Macklin McCall: The town of Smithers is spending over $230,000 a year on private security just to keep their downtown safe.

Local business owner Caroline Marko said: “We’ve been robbed at syringe point. We’ve had break-ins, theft, vandalism. We’ve seen cars set on fire. I’ve lived all over the world, and I have never seen any of these things.”

Will this minister explain why small towns like Smithers are paying out of pocket because this government can’t do its job?

Hon. Niki Sharma: We take making our communities safer very seriously. I’ve put on the record, to Minister Fraser, the very specific changes that we need to make to the Criminal Code to make sure that these repeat offenders are kept off the street. That includes better respect for the law so that we know, when our police officers are out there trying to catch these people, that the system is there to respond, to keep businesses and people safe.

Next week I’m headed, along with the Solicitor General, to have a meeting with Minister Fraser. They’ve committed to making the changes in the Criminal Code, and we’ll be holding them to that.

Hopefully, it’ll be soon.

Small Business Roundtable

Gavin Dew: Irwin’s Safety and Industrial employed 700 people last year, but B.C.’s red tape, payroll taxes and WorkSafe costs are driving them to hire and fly in Alberta-based staff, who spend their wages and pay their taxes in Alberta.

The government’s own Small Business Roundtable has flagged these issues for years, including in a major 2018 report, but this government shut them down after an abrupt meeting in February 2024.

With business confidence at an all-time low, will the Premier commit today to reactivating the Small Business Roundtable — yes or no?

Hon. Ravi Kahlon: I want to thank the member for the question.

Ensuring that our small businesses are successful here in British Columbia is critical to the work not only that I do but that all my colleagues do. You’ve heard today of the many measures that we’re bringing forward to support small businesses during some challenging times.

I can commit to the member that I have been meeting with chambers from across the province. I’ve been meeting with small businesses across the province. I’ve been meeting with larger businesses across the province. What we want to do as we go forward is to ensure that all their voices are represented, not just four or five people at a table, but that every community has their small businesses’ voices raised so that their issues can be addressed.

We are going to be scheduling regular round tables with the chambers across the province, scheduled regular meetings — same with the business council and same with the board of trade — so that we can have more voices represented in the changes that we want to see within government.

The member also mentioned red tape. We have right now a process going forward on ease of doing business.

I urge all members in this House, if you have small businesses in your community that are finding challenges, to bring those ideas forward.

My goal, with my colleagues, will be to ensure that we can address as many of those barriers that are nuisances to small businesses as we can.

Government Action on Homelessness

Linda Hepner: Homelessness is up in 60 percent of B.C. communities, with a record spike in both Cranbrook and Fort St. John.

The government’s slogan is “Belonging in B.C.,” but for too many people, it feels more like belonging in a tent.

Can the minister explain if belonging in B.C. means belonging on the streets? Does she think they are vibrant communities too?

Hon. Christine Boyle: Thank you to the member opposite for the question.

Homelessness is a significant issue, not just across B.C. but across Canada and beyond, and it’s one that we continue to take seriously.

[11:00 a.m.]

Our government’s plan to address homelessness adds 3,900 new supportive housing units and 240 complex care spaces provincewide. That builds on the more than 9,600 supportive homes open or underway since 2017. Our government has worked closely with local governments to close encampments in communities across B.C. by opening up housing for people in places like Abbotsford, Vancouver, Maple Ridge and on the Whalley strip.

The opposition have been clear that they want to cancel our housing actions, that they’re opposed to supportive housing projects across the province. When they were in government, they cut affordable housing investments by a staggering 75 percent in a single year.

This government is taking the issue seriously, and we will continue to.

Payment to Company for
Road Accident Clearance Work

Rosalyn Bird: In April 2024, a transport truck overturned near McBride, blocking the Goat River.

Local company Rich Boyz Mechanical and Towing was dispatched by the RCMP to clear that wreck. Eighteen months later they still haven’t been paid.

Will the minister ensure this small business receives a remuneration cheque prior to the end of our break, yes or no?

Hon. Mike Farnworth: I appreciate the question from the member.

The member has brought the issue to my office. The member has also had the issue examined by the policies and procedures within the Ministry of Transportation.

I can also tell you that the government does pay legitimate concerns. What we have asked for are the actual receipts in place. We do not pay when we receive a bill that says there are $300,000 in terms of storage costs and no accountability to it and no documentation.

I have made it clear that we will look at that particular issue. I have met with the member a number of times on this. But when the government pays a bill, (1) it has to be something that it is actually responsible for; (2) it must be accompanied by proper receipts. I would expect the opposition would expect that to take place.

As I’ve said to the member, I am more than happy to look at it, to see what we can do, but we will only do what we are required to — what is actual, what is documented and what is accompanied by receipts — not just a thing saying: “Here are all these things that we think we should be paid for.”

Budget Deficit and
Government Financial Management

Peter Milobar: Well, it’s clear why the construction industry is worried about the government exempting themselves from prompt payment, I guess.

The pattern today has been very clear, and here is the interesting thing. All the examples that we have been bringing forward are under this government’s watch. In fact, municipalities and small businesses have been pleading for help from this government for years about the cost of downloading and the extra costs being put on them as small businesses.

In fact, in 2024, Kamloops actually commissioned a report to demonstrate the previous five years’ costs of downloading from government. It showed just Kamloops alone in that five-year period was $13 million.

Vancouver, we heard today, is $8 million just for the Downtown Eastside of downloading. In fact, they are trying to find $100 million in savings in their budget because municipalities aren’t allowed to just have a blank cheque and run a deficit, let alone a record deficit like this government tries to do repeatedly.

Councils across this province, small businesses across this province, are trying to draft budgets for the future year right now. They need to know the state of play. They need to know if this government intends to keep downloading more and more costs on them to try to save their own budgetary measures or not. Everybody knows that this provincial government is broke, under this Premier’s watch. Municipalities know it. Small businesses know it. The BCGEU members out on the picket lines are finding that out as we speak.

Again, when will this government make it very clear to municipalities, in this budget cycle, whether they can expect more downloading costs or if this government is actually going to finally, once and for all, take their concerns seriously and not deflect the things that may or may not have happened in 2001?

[11:05 a.m.]

Hon. Brenda Bailey: The member opposite points to our deficit, and I want to remind the member of the important work that we are doing every day to bring down costs in this government. We made a commitment that we would find $1.5 billion in savings in our first round, and we have. We have to continue to do this work, and we are doing this work very diligently. We’ve put a freeze in place in hiring in the public service. Through attrition, we already know, 850 jobs.

We’re continuing to do this work. All of our ministries are looking under every rock to make sure that everything that we’re spending money on is getting results. This is deep and important work…

Interjections.

The Speaker: Shhh. Shhh, Members.

Hon. Brenda Bailey: …and we would expect the other side to support us.

[End of question period.]

Reports from Committees

Private Bills and
Private Members’ Bills Committee

Amna Shah: I have the honour to present the report of the Select Standing Committee on Private Bills and Private Members’ Bills on Bill M210, intituled Korean Heritage Month Act, complete without amendment.

The Speaker: The report on Bill M210, Korean Heritage Month Act, will be considered at the report stage during the next private members’ time.

Elenore Sturko: I seek leave to make an introduction.

Leave granted.

Introductions by Members

Elenore Sturko: I would like to welcome to this chamber the TLA Online school, a provincial independent online school. Thirty grade 11s are here with their teacher, Suzanne Uher.

I’d just like everyone in this House to make them feel very welcome.

Orders of the Day

Hon. Mike Farnworth: In this chamber, I call second reading of Bill 22, Statutes Act.

[Lorne Doerkson in the chair.]

Second Reading of Bills

Bill 22 — Statutes Act

Deputy Speaker: Thank you, Members. We’ll call this House back to order and ask you to take your conversations outside, as we’ve got business to attend to.

This morning we will be opening debate on Bill 22, the Statutes Act, and I will recognize our Attorney General to begin that debate and introduce the bill.

Hon. Niki Sharma: I move that the bill now be read a second time.

The proposed Statutes Act furthers the government’s commitment to improving access to justice for all citizens of British Columbia, expanding methods of proof to enable online versions of B.C. acts and consolidations to be used in evidence.

Currently only printed legislation published by the King’s Printer is considered official for evidentiary purposes. The print requirement is out of step with the evolution of publishing technologies and the widespread online availability of legislation.

[11:10 a.m.]

The new statute will improve and modernize access to justice by enabling, for evidentiary purposes in court and elsewhere, the use of official versions of statutes and consolidations accessed through a government website maintained by the King’s Printer.

This means, for example, that an individual will be able to present an official version of an act or a consolidation on their electronic device or bring to court an official version printed on a home printer. Both would be sufficient as evidence of the law.

Official print versions of legislation will continue to be available from the King’s Printer as before, but expanding the method of proof to include official online versions of acts and consolidations reflects the government’s recognition that the B.C. public increasingly accesses and uses legislation online rather than in print.

The work of preparing acts for publication in print and online involves the Office of the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, the office of legislative counsel and the King’s Printer working together as a team.

The proposed Statutes Act sets out current and long-standing requirements for the publication of B.C. legislation and describes the long-standing practice of the three partners in the preparation of the publication of acts and consolidations. As part of this, the new legislation centralizes, amends and updates provisions in the Evidence Act, Interpretation Act, the Queen’s Printer Act and the Statute Revision Act. With the related retitling of the Queen’s Printer Act, various references to that act and to the Queen’s Printer throughout the statute will all be updated to King’s Printer, obviously.

Finally, consistent with the principles of the Accessible British Columbia Act, the new legislation will provide usability of official online versions of the act and consolidations by enabling the inclusion of accessibility features, such as hypertext links and the alternative text for use with screen readers, and information features, such as not-in-force notations and historical reference information in official online versions of legislation. This will improve the usability and readability of B.C. acts and consolidations without having an impact on the effect of the legislation.

Steve Kooner: I rise today on behalf of the official opposition as the Attorney General critic, and I will be making the second reading speech as part of the official opposition.

We are speaking about Bill 22, the Statutes Act, 2025, today. In principle, this is a good statute in terms of…. We’re looking at modernizing how we look at legislation, how we’re able to access legislation. That’s an important tool to have.

Prior to this bill being introduced, we have had the experience of dealing with original version paper copies from the King’s Printer — prior to that, the Queen’s Printer — and there may be many challenges related to that.

I’ve been a lawyer for approximately 19 years now. I practise civil litigation law. You have to navigate the Evidence Act. You’ve got to follow all the rules if you want to submit some evidence. And if you want to refer to law and you want to have judicial notice of that particular law to be taken, you’ve got to properly introduce it. The proper version was the paper copy before, the original paper copy from the King’s Printer. Prior to that it was the Queen’s Printer.

But with this new legislation, what we’re seeing is that modernization. One could look at online versions of statutes and may be able to print off that online version, say on a house printer or an office printer, or even use a digital device to take evidence of that specific statute or legislation to a hearing or a court forum. So this actually makes things a lot easier to present cases, and I’m sure legal professionals will welcome this.

At first glance, this bill seems to be highly technical, but it represents an important modernization of how our province publishes, consolidates and verifies its laws. In short, it brings our legal publishing system into the digital era.

[11:15 a.m.]

A lot has happened over the last 30 years. We see a lot of work being done over Zoom meetings. We see MS Teams being used. We see a lot of virtual meetings happening. Even in the court system, we see a lot of technology being used. If we were relying on paper copies, what we’ve probably used for the last 100 years, and not going with the times…. That creates a lot of inefficiency.

This is a welcomed piece of legislation. It’s something that’s long overdue in our province, and it’s something that prides on innovation, accessibility and transparency. For more than a century, the laws of British Columbia, the official statutes of this Legislature, have existed primarily as printed volumes published by the King’s Printer and, like I said earlier, the Queen’s Printer before that. Anyone seeking to present law in court or to cite a statute and evidence needed to rely on official printed copies.

Today with Bill 22, the government proposes to bring official online versions of statutes and consolidations admissible as evidence under the Evidence Act. In other words, for the first time, British Columbians will be able to rely on official digital versions of our laws, accessible from the government’s website, with the same authority as printed copies. That may sound simple, but it carries major implications for access to justice, legal certainty and transparency in our legislative process.

Let’s get more into the substance of this legislation. I’ve touched a little bit on the main purpose of this legislation, but Bill 22 does some crucial things here. It recognizes online versions of acts and consolidations as official, meaning they can be used as evidence in legal or administrative proceedings.

It’s important to mention that we do have many forums to adjudicate legal cases here. When one looks at how the cases get decided, where this evidence goes and where you can use these now online versions, we have the formal courts, which is the Provincial Court. It involves small claims court, as well as criminal court. It involves family court. Then above that, we have the Supreme Court, and then we have the Court of Appeal in this province.

In addition to the courts, there are also a lot of administrative tribunals that look at cases and look at evidence. They closely follow what the courts use as procedure, but they also use their own rules. This will allow greater flexibility.

Some of those tribunals that we see…. We heard earlier this week about the Civil Resolution Tribunal, and the Civil Resolution Tribunal has been given a lot of authority as well. A lot of those proceedings are actually online proceedings, so it makes sense. If you are now having online proceedings, you should also, maybe, have online-based evidence that you can introduce to those online proceedings.

In addition to that, in this province we also have other tribunals that look at cases daily, such as the residential tenancy branch, which hears a lot of issues related to tenant and landlord issues. We also have WorkSafe. We have the tribunal there. We have federal tribunals as well. In terms of applicability, this applies to the provincial statutes. It’s great to know that this tool will be available after this law comes into force.

This bill also updates and clarifies the long-standing roles and responsibilities of the King’s Printer and the chief legislative counsel when it comes to preparing and publishing laws.

It’s absolutely crucial to know. It sounds good to say, “Look, we’re going to have these online versions available,” but we also have to look at the framework that actually allows for all of that to happen.

[11:20 a.m.]

Having a look at the King’s Printer and having a look at how the legislative counsel works is also something crucial to look at — something that this particular bill does.

Thirdly, this particular bill modernizes and aligns other related statutes.

I believe the references were made in regard to the King’s Printer Act and the Interpretation Act and the Evidence Act to reflect today’s digital reality.

As I mentioned earlier, up till now only printed copies produced by the King’s Printer — prior to that, the Queen’s Printer — were considered official. That was fine in 1975, but in 2025, the whole process of deciding cases has totally changed with the times. It makes less and less sense to actually rely on archaic ways of presenting evidence. The law that governs us should be accessible to the people as easily as possible. It also shouldn’t be locked behind subscription fees or limited to printer editions.

In today’s day…. Back ten or 20 years ago you would have certain segments of our population that were less likely to use online versions or use computers. These days everybody seems to be using internet tools, so this was a very important thing to do.

Bill 29 allows British Columbians, whether they’re here in Victoria or Richmond or New Westminster or Prince George, to have the same access and to present official legislation directly from their digital device and, as I said earlier, even printing it at home. This will probably bring a lot of peace of mind, knowing that what’s on your digital device carries the same weight as what would be an original version from the King’s Printer and paper copy.

It’s not only an improvement in terms of how you look at statutes and how you look at digital statutes; it changes the game in terms of how you present your case and how you present evidence in regards to proving what the law is. So this is actually…. It seems very simple. The idea seems quite simple, but it has some significant, prominent positives flowing from this. It will really affect and help the practice of law, moving forward.

Especially in a time when we want to make our courts and tribunals and administrative tribunals more easy to use…. Some people don’t understand how to follow the proper procedures to get the proper evidence and how to present it. That’s a common theme. Even when you go to tribunals, a common theme is that the evidence wasn’t presented properly, or the evidence wasn’t given in time properly, or the evidence wasn’t served in the proper method properly. This goes to the heart of how to present a case involving legal authority. This is a big step forward in democratizing access to the law.

In a nutshell, access to justice begins with access to the law itself. How can a person follow the law if they cannot easily find or trust what the law says? One should be able to find the law at their fingertips rather than ordering a piece of legislation. By giving online legislation official status, we make the law more transparent, more accessible and more responsive to the needs of citizens, lawyers, businesses and the courts.

[11:25 a.m.]

This change will particularly benefit people in rural communities. It will benefit students and self-represented litigants. That’s actually a very common theme that you hear within the court system. Sometimes you hear that there’s a backlog in the courts because there are self-represented litigants and they don’t necessarily understand all the procedures. They don’t necessarily understand how to present their evidence. A lot of legal professionals say that one of the reasons why the court system may bog down is because the self-represented litigants are actually taking some time to understand how to operate within our justice system and move their cases forward.

When you have a tool like this, legislation like this, it actually makes it easier to access the evidence and say: “Here’s my evidence. It’s on my digital device. Please take notice of this.” It makes things very simple for self-represented litigants.

In addition to who else it will probably benefit…. I mentioned rural communities, students, self-represented litigants. It can help journalists and also small business owners, amongst many, all of whom rely on online resources to understand their rights and obligations.

This bill also ensures that digital accessibility features such as hyperlinks, as the Attorney General mentioned earlier, alternative text for images and historical references can be integrated in the official law without affecting its legal meaning. That’s an important point. Bill 22 makes clear that these accessibility tools are not editorial only. There’s actually a force behind them, as well, when you look at their online nature. They don’t change the substance of the law, but they make it easier to navigate and understand.

Some of the clauses in regard to this particular bill I’d like to just go through, just to give a sense of what’s in this bill. I’ll walk through some of the clauses.

Clauses 1 and 2 lay the foundation of defining terms such as “consolidation” and “official website.” The official website is obviously important to understand because you’ve got to know where this online version is going to be to read the law. Consolidation is also important to understand because sometimes there’s consolidation of legislation, and you should be able to understand that as well.

A consolidation is the version of an act that includes all amendments currently in force as of a given date. In other words, it’s the up-to-date version of the law. This bill recognizes there are three types of consolidations — initial, updated and point-in-time consolidations. This is critical. It means users can look at the law as it exists today or as it existed on a particular date in the past. This capability, sometimes called a point-in-time law, is essential for courts, lawyers and even historians who may need to know what the law said at a specific point in time.

Clauses 3 and 4 deal with the processes or process of publishing acts. After a bill receives royal assent, the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly must send the act to the chief legislative counsel who then provides a copy to the King’s Printer for online publication. This process ensures a clear and traceable chain of custody from the Legislature to the public record.

A lot of times, people have questions. How are these laws made? How do they get to the place where finally you’re going to be looking at them? So when this bill sheds some light on these procedures or these processes, it shows the transparency in this, transparency in terms of how these statutes may go online.

[11:30 a.m.]

Clauses 5 and 6 are about correcting minor and technical errors. They allow for small editorial corrections to be made. For example, fixing typographical errors, formatting or cross-reference errors. However, these corrections must be confirmed by the Legislature. They’re not totally clear, so some of the questions at committee stage that I will be asking will be around these particular sets of clauses here as well.

Going further, in clauses 7 to 13, they cover the preparation, publication and correction of consolidations. These provisions codify long-standing practices that have evolved in the legislative counsel office and put those clarifications forward.

Like I said, it’s important to understand not only that these will be official versions of the law when they go online, but it’s also important to understand how the process works. Once things get passed here in the House, how does it all work? And how does the law get to that online version?

I guess the most important clause in this particular bill, to me anyways, is clause 14. It establishes what makes a version of an act official. If it’s official, then you can use it as your evidence. An act or consolidation is official if it is in a prescribed format and includes a statement approved by the chief legislative counsel indicating its official status. This gives courts, lawyers and citizens confidence that what they’re reading online is the law, in fact, not an unofficial summary or a third-party version.

We talked about hyperlinks earlier, and clause 15 actually touches on that. Clause 15 allows for accessibility features and information features such as hyperlinks, alternative text. That’s an important feature to have because it allows you to navigate the law in an easier way.

Clause 16 talks about if there’s a conflict between the new Statutes Act and the King’s Printer Act, the Statutes Act will prevail.

Clause 17 exempts the act from section 5 of the Offence Act, meaning no one can be prosecuted under this act unless the act itself specifies penalties. Normally with these types of bills that are very administrative, very clerical in nature, bills that are setting up administrative procedure, a lot of times we see that the Offence Act does not apply. It doesn’t provide quasi-criminal penalties to it. That seems to be in line with other types of legislation that are kind of similar to the procedural quality of this particular bill.

Clause 18 gives the Attorney General authority to make regulations under this act, so it talks a little bit about that.

Remaining parts, 5 onward, are mostly housekeeping and consequential amendments. For example, a housekeeping-in-nature example would be they update outdated references like, say, from “the Queen’s Printer” to “the King’s Printer.”

Going further, this bill is more than just a technical update. It reflects a larger shift in how government views access to information. We hear on a regular basis that — I don’t know what the exact term is — we’re on an information technology highway. There’s some specific term to that. But it shows that we’ve had a major shift in how we approach access to information. That’s a positive sign, and that’s a positive precedent led from this particular bill.

[11:35 a.m.]

For decades, governments have published laws in print form, but as a society, we moved online. Citizens began relying on digital versions, and sometimes from unofficial or outdated sources. That really complicated things because people thought: “Okay. Well, this is a government site, and there’s legislation here. Let’s go use it.” Then they’d find out you can’t use that version. You should have ordered the proper version.

That could have delayed the case or affected the case, or maybe you wouldn’t have been able to present certain evidence in your case. That could have led to a procedural injustice there.

Although it seems very minor in nature, what this bill does actually has very significant positive outcomes for what will be achieved. It’s important to make sure that we keep flowing in this direction of modernization.

There are some potential questions and considerations that I will be exploring at the committee stage of this particular bill. Although I agree in principle with this bill and I support this bill in principle, there are certain questions that I will have at the committee stage of this particular bill.

In regards to those, how will the government ensure that the older point-in-time consolidations remain available and accessible in the long term, even as technology changes? How are we going to make sure that, no matter what, we’re going to have access to all the old statutes? Say if we want to go back 60 years, if we completely change to digital…?

I know that you’re still going to have access to the King’s Printer, but what this particular bill signals is that we’re moving in the modernization direction, that we’re moving in a digital direction.

It’s going to be important to understand that if we are moving forward, we will still, on a permanent basis, be keeping some paper format, some access to hard copies somewhere. If somebody wanted to research it, if they still can’t find it online, they should be able to find it somewhere.

What safeguards exist to prevent cybersecurity risk or tampering with online versions of the law? We see…. In the era of AI, which is fast evolving, we hear about cyber risks, we hear about cyber fraud. We hear about…. What do they call those? The emails when somebody just masks the name of somebody else and they send an email and somebody thinks that’s an email from the actual source.

Lawyers have actually dealt with this. The Law Society sends out notices to lawyers: “Hey, watch your emails because somebody may copy your email and send it to someone.” And they also tell receiving lawyers: “Look, make sure you actually pick up the phone and call the other side before you send over funds to the other party, because this could be a fake email.”

So now when we’re dealing with law, we’re moving to an official version of being online. We want to make sure that someone can’t just fabricate that or change it around and then be able to take it to a court or a tribunal and say, “Hey, here’s the official version. This is what the law says. This is what the words say. And my case hinges on these particular words,” and then getting some sort of outcome.

I know that would be fraud. You shouldn’t be able to do that, but that is still a concern. How do you prevent that from happening in the future? Are there some safeguards in regards to that? So that will be an important item to explore at committee stage, what protections there are in terms of, say, cybersecurity.

Then another important factor just popped up while I was reviewing the legislation, and I thought about it because we’re talking about the King’s Printer. We’re talking about a chief legislative counsel. We’re talking about what is happening here in the Legislature, and we’re talking about getting these versions in different spots. How will the chief legislative counsel and the King’s Printer coordinate to guarantee both accuracy and timeliness in publishing?

[11:40 a.m.]

We want to make sure this stuff gets published on time, in a timely manner. We don’t just want to say that we’re bringing this legislation. We want it to have some teeth. We want this to actually happen. We want the digital official versions to be all there for people to look at.

Finally, what outreach or education will be provided to ensure that lawyers, judges and the public understand that online acts now carry legal authority? Now somebody presents a digital…. Here’s a digital version of the law. Everybody needs to understand that. All the legal professionals need to understand that.

Will there be some sort of educational training, or will there be some press releases from the government saying that, okay, this has happened? Sometimes not everybody looks at those press releases. We want to make sure that everybody who’s going to work with this online version of this law or statute understands that’s available and what that actually means now.

These are not just criticisms, but they’re important due diligence questions to ensure that in modernizing access, we do not compromise certainty or integrity.

In conclusion, Bill 22, the Statutes Act, 2025, is a thoughtful and overdue modernization of how British Columbia publishes and authenticates its laws. It respects our legislative history, strengthens access to justice and brings our legal infrastructure into the 21st century. By giving digital access equal footing with print, it puts the law quite literally in the hands of the people — accessible, verifiable and transparent.

We will be supporting this legislation at second reading today, but we have some questions at committee, and we will be looking through this legislation in detail at committee stage.

Deputy Speaker: Seeing no further speakers, I will call on our Attorney General to close debate.

Hon. Niki Sharma: I move that the bill be referred to Committee of the Whole to be considered at the next sitting after today.

Deputy Speaker: Members, the question is second reading of Bill 22, the Statutes Act.

Motion approved.

Hon. Niki Sharma: You’d think I’d have it down by now. Sorry about that.

I move that the bill be referred to Committee of the Whole to be considered at the next sitting after today.

Motion approved.

Hon. Jennifer Whiteside: I call second reading on Bill 23.

Bill 23 — Regulations Act

Deputy Speaker: Recognizing our Attorney General to begin debate.

Hon. Niki Sharma: I move that the bill now be read a second time.

The proposed updated Regulations Act is a companion to the proposed new Statutes Act. It continues the government’s work to improve the public’s access to justice, expanding methods of proof to enable online versions of B.C. regulations and consolidations to be used in evidence.

Currently, as is the case of statutes, only printed regulations published by the King’s Printer are considered official for evidentiary purposes. The print requirement is out of step with the evolution of the publishing technologies and the widespread online availability of legislation.

The updated Regulations Act will improve and modernize access to justice by enabling, for evidentiary purposes, in court and elsewhere, the use of official versions of regulations and consolidations accessed through a government website maintained by the King’s Printer. This means that an individual can present a digital official version of the regulation, rather than a printed version from the King’s Printer, whenever proof of the existence or contents of that regulation is required.

Official print versions of regulations will be available from the King’s Printer as before, but expanding the methods of proof to include official online versions of regulations and consolidations acknowledges the fact that the B.C. public increasingly accesses and uses legislation online rather than in print.

The work of preparing regulations for publication in print and online is done by the official office of the legislative counsel and the King’s Printer working together as a team. The updated Regulations Act sets out current and long-standing requirements for drafting, examining, depositing and consolidating of B.C. regulations and describes the long-standing practices of the two partners in the preparation and publication of regulations and consolidations.

[11:45 a.m.]

As part of this, the new legislation centralizes, amends and updates provisions in the Evidence Act, the Interpretation Act, the Queen’s Printer Act and the Regulations Regulation.

Consistent with the principles of the Accessible B.C. Act, the new legislation will provide the usability of official online versions of regulations and consolidations by enabling the inclusion of accessibility features such as hyperlinks and alternative text for use with screen readers and information features such as not-in-force notations and historical reference information in official online versions of legislation. This will improve the usability and readability of B.C. regulations and consolidations without impacting legal effect.

Finally, a key component of the Regulations Act is a website for the storage and caretaking of maps, images, forms, records and other materials adopted by reference in regulations. This will ensure that the adopted materials are easily accessible and consistently maintained.

Steve Kooner: It’s an honour to stand up here as the Attorney General critic from the official opposition from the Conservative caucus of B.C. to speak to Bill 23, the Regulations Act, in this second reading.

As a starting point of introduction of the official opposition’s position, we will be voting for this bill at second reading. But we have some serious questions, even more serious questions than the last bill, on this particular one. There might even be some introductions of amendments coming at the committee stage of this particular bill. The level of concern is much higher than Bill 22, which we just looked at.

That’s the original introduction to my speech here, but let’s get into the speech.

First of all, I’d like to thank the Attorney General for actually bringing this bill forward and bringing the last one. I’m going to elaborate on what my thoughts are here on this particular bill.

Like the last one, this bill may look highly technical at first. But its implications reach deeper into how government functions, how laws are made and how ordinary British Columbians access the rules that govern their lives.

Regulations. Usually people view regulations…. They view the laws as what are actually made here in this chamber. Then the regulations are usually not made in the chamber. They’re usually made by a cabinet decision or some sort of delegation from the cabinet.

So it’s important to look at this one with more of a microscope, this particular bill, because a lot of what this bill will authorize or change will change the framework that applies to regulations. You can call it types of law as well, because they have legal force, although they’re called regulations.

Those regulations are…. That type of law is actually made without any proper scrutiny from this House because those regulations are made through the cabinet or some sort of delegation from the cabinet.

This statute essentially becomes a new code. It looks at the whole framework of how regulations are made. If this is what sets a framework of how future regulations are made, that may not get the level of accountability that legislation gets. It is absolutely very crucial to actually look at this particular bill with even more scrutiny.

For that reason, I think it’s important to take our time on this legislation. We can’t really rush it through. We have to really look at each clause. We have to look at what it means. We have to look at the implications.

[11:50 a.m.]

Regulations, as I just mentioned earlier, don’t have the oversight from this Legislature, from all sides of this House. We need to unpack this particular legislation to understand why it matters and to reflect on how it can be strengthened before it actually becomes law.

First, to just touch upon why this legislation matters and why the official opposition is going to vote for this at second reading…. It’s important to touch upon those points first, and then we’ll touch upon why we need to do some scrutiny of this particular bill at the committee stage.

Regulations are the practical machinery of government. When we pass an act in this House, it sets out broad principles, but it is through regulations that those principles become operational. A lot of times we see a lot of legislation come through this House, but it seems like it’s pretty brief. It seems like there’s a skeletal legislative framework. That is the case because there are a lot of regulations that come after the fact that are applicable to British Columbians. They have significant bearing on British Columbians because they’ve got to follow those regulations.

Regulations tell us how a law is applied, when it takes effect, who it applies to, what procedures must be followed. They determine how businesses comply with safety rules, how professionals are licensed, how citizens interact with government.

Yet regulations are made not in this chamber, as I mentioned earlier, but by cabinet or delegated authorities, like I mentioned earlier, behind the scenes, after the enabling law has already been passed. So when we discuss a regulations act, we are really discussing how executive power is exercised, how legislative oversight is preserved and how transparency and access to justice are protected.

Bill 23 updates the framework that governs how regulations are drafted, as we heard earlier, deposited, published, revised and consolidated in British Columbia. It replaces an outdated structure with one that embraces modern technology, particularly by recognizing official online versions of regulations as legally valid under the Evidence Act. They now become official versions.

I spent a lot of time talking about how statutes, when they become official versions, make access to justice easier and how it affects our justice forums in terms of adjudicating cases moving forward. Similarly, with this, regulations sometimes…. People more easily find the statutes. It’s sometimes easier to find statutes because people know about those statutes. But sometimes people are like: “What are regulations?” Then they try to find those regulations, and sometimes it’s cumbersome to actually find those regulations.

Sometimes you find them and they may be in the wrong version when you present them to the adjudication forum, and that may prevent you from making sure that you have fairness in your case when you want to be heard.

I think having an online version that’s an official version is even more important for regulations than it is for statutes. Statutes — a lot of people know about them. A lot more people talk about them. But regulations? Sometimes people forget about them, that they exist too. Sometimes you forget about their nature, or sometimes you have a hard time actually finding them.

[11:55 a.m.]

We hear a lot about laws, and a lot of people refer to statutes as law, but there’s not a lot of discussion that happens about how there are regulations too. For that reason — regulations are, in a way, hidden because less people are talking about them and there’s less knowledge about them — it makes even more sense to make sure that the regulations have an official version and that the online version is the official version for them.

In short, to the extent this bill talks about digitizing the regulations and recognizing the official version being an online version as well for regulations, that’s about trust, transparency and access. It’s about ensuring that British Columbians can confidently rely on the online laws and regulations that they read and that what they see on the government website is indeed the law of the land.

Bill 23 complements Bill 22. A lot of times…. If you’ve read Bill 22 already, that helps you understand Bill 23. As we saw from Bill 22 — we just recently debated that — Bill 22 deals with online versions of statutes. Bill 23 deals with online versions of regulations, the next layer of law, if you can call it that.

Bill 23 allows regulations and their consolidations, when published on the government’s official website, to be treated as official versions for evidentiary purposes, with similar legal recognition for materials adopted by reference, such as technical codes, standards and maps, as was earlier referenced. So there’s similar legal recognition for items that are connected to the regulations when published on a new government platform, such as this official website where you will be able to see these regulations.

Updates to procedures for drafting, depositing, publishing and revising regulations — this bill brings that in line with digital reality. This bill also outlines terminology — for example, changing Queen’s Printer Act to King’s Printer Act — and incorporates a number of housekeeping and procedural reforms.

Beyond the technical details, Bill 23 raises broader questions. Who ensures that these regulations are properly drafted and publicly accessible? It’s one thing putting it in this act that this is going to happen, but what’s the mechanism behind it to make sure it will indeed happen? What happens when a mistake occurs? I know there are some clauses that talk about when there are typographical errors and how they will be amended, but there needs to be a little bit more discussion and explanation.

Noting the hour, I reserve my right to continue with my second reading speech.

Deputy Speaker: Thank you, Member. Would you please move adjournment of this debate as well?

Steve Kooner: Okay. I move the adjournment of this debate, and I reserve my right to continue my speech.

Steve Kooner moved adjournment of debate.

Motion approved.

Hon. Jennifer Whiteside moved adjournment of the House.

Motion approved.

Deputy Speaker: This House stands adjourned until 1 p.m. today.

The House adjourned at 11:59 a.m.